Film Milestones in Visual and Special Effects from 1990 to 2004

Film Title/Year and Description of Visual-Special Effects	Screenshots
The Rescuers Down Under (1990) Disney's The Rescuers Down Under (1990), the studio's very first, theatrically-released animated sequel, was noteworthy for two other milestones. The animated feature film was the first 100% completely-digital feature film ever produced and released - it included impressive flight-aerial action sequences using rotoscoping and multi-plane cameras -- especially in the scene of Cody (voice of (Adam Ryen) setting free and riding the magnificent golden eagle Marahute. It was also the first animated feature fully using CAPS (Computer Animation Production System) - the first digital (or computerized) ink-and-paint system (developed by Disney and Pixar), to color the film with computerized ink and paint (not using acetate cels or traditional paint).
RoboCop 2 (1990) This feature film demonstrated the first use of real-time computer graphics or "digital puppetry" to create a character's face. In the film, a CG representation or version of the face of nuke cult leader/villain Cain (Tom Noonan) merged and was seen on the robot's screen. The facial movements were manipulated by a computer operator, in real-time, rather than using pre-programmed commands. (Digital puppetry is the manipulation and performance of digitally animated 2D or 3D figures and objects in a virtual environment that are rendered in real-time by computers.)
Total Recall (1990) The revolutionary use of motion capture was accomplished for the skeletal CGI characters (moving behind an X-ray screen) in the subway shootout scene. The film won a "Special Achievement Award" for its Visual Effects by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Backdraft (1991) This film featured the first use of photorealistic CG fire in a motion picture.
Beauty and the Beast (1991) It was the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Noted for the integration of traditionally hand-drawn cels and computer-generated animation, especially in the ballroom scene in which Belle and the Beast danced. Computers were used to assist in adding colors and shadows to create 3-D like images within a completely 3-D rendered background, and to simulate complex movements (by tweening motion between frames) in 3-D space. This new digital technology was tested in Disney's earlier films The Black Cauldron (1985), The Great Mouse Detective (1986), and Oliver and Company (1988).
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Digital morphing was used in this film, in the scene of the shape-changing alien prisoner Marta (Iman), who eventually morphed into Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner), culminating in a fist-fight between the two (shown right). The film also featured zero-gravity, CG Klingon blood (a pink-purple color).
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) This film won the year's Academy Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, defeating Backdraft (1991) and Hook (1991). Terminator 2 was the first mainstream blockbuster movie with multiple morphing effects and simulated natural human motion and realistic movements for a major CG character. It was the first film to use 'personal' computers to create its special effects. The lethal, liquid-metal, chrome T-1000 cyborg terminator (Robert Patrick) was the first computer graphic-generated main character to be used in a film. This was the first major instance of a CG character in a film since Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). He was capable of 'morphing' into any person or object. The liquifying-solidifying robot's humanoid texture was layered onto a CG model to create the effect. Over 300 special effects shots made up 16 minutes of the film's running time. The seemingly-indestructible Terminator android composed of morphing liquid metal was a killing, shape-shifting terminator with no emotional intelligence, usually exemplified as a policeman. The sleek, modern android was composed of poly-mimetic metal, meaning it could take on the shape, color, and texture of anything it touched (such as a porcelain-tiled floor or metal bars), and could also mimic human behavior, such as imitating the voices of its victims; it could transform its hands into jaw-like blades for impalement, and completely absorb shotgun blasts to its midsection or head. After a fiery big-rig crash in the LA flood channel, the T-1000 walked unscathed out of the flames - revealing his metallic frame before reverting back to humanoid form. In another remarkable scene, the T-1000 was shattered into pieces, but then the pieces reassembled themselves. The morphing effect was first used in director Ron Howard's Willow (1988), but not to such an extent. Also, in post-production work, the truck crashing through the wall was flipped from left to right to create a better angle. In the same year, Michael Jackson's promo music video Black or White (1991), directed by John Landis, also used morphing (in its final sequence) - the first video to do so.
The Babe (1992) Since star John Goodman was right-handed and he was portraying left-handed, legendary baseball player George Herman "Babe" Ruth, film-makers composited Goodman with a left-handed pitcher in action to get the fast-ball scene accurately shot. Also, the baseball park was filled by shooting just one section of extras and then wallpapering the stands with copies of them.
Death Becomes Her (1992) This film was the Academy Award winner for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, defeating Alien 3 (1992) and Batman Returns (1992). The film featured photo-realistic skin (created with the first human skin CG software) - skin was replicated to link a body and head together with a digital neck. The extensive CGI effects were in the scene of Madeline Ashton's (Meryl Streep) twisted-around head (and stretched neck), the see-through hole in Helen Sharp's (Goldie Hawn) abdomen, and the depiction of a rainy 1978 New York City and a miniature mansion. The film used extensive digital retouching to remove the head of one actress, and then later placed a talking head on another body.
Lawnmower Man (1992) This breakthrough film contained ground-breaking special effects - introducing a computer-generated Virtual Reality to films. It was the first feature film in the 1990s to use computer animation to explore the subject of virtual reality. It was also one of the first films to record a human actor's movements in a sensor-covered body suit - a technique called Body Motion Capture, to control the movements of a CG character. [The technique was later perfected in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), for the CGI character of Gollum.] There was one imaginative and surreal CGI sequence (8 minutes in length) of virtual reality sex (or cybersex), the first of its kind, in this science-fiction thriller loosely derived from Stephen King's short story; Marnie Burke (Jenny Wright) and mentally-retarded lawnmower man Jobe Smith (Jeff Fahey) wore bodysuits, gloves, and head-mounted displays (HMDs), and were strapped into huge gyroscopes - all connected to the computer. After they kissed, the two intertwining lovers became swirling liquid metal, fusing with one another. The couple took the form of two metallic insects looking like a two-headed dragonfly - flying as one being. Jobe took over the dual fantasy, claiming to know what was in Marnie's mind, but she became trapped in his scary world and then traumatized ("Oh my God, let me out") - causing her brain patterns to become irregular, signifying that she had become a brain-dead vegetable. In the film's VR climax, now all-powerful Cyber-Being Jobe Smith (Jeff Fahey) entered into the computer main-frame and faced off against VR researcher Dr. Lawrence Angelo (Pierce Brosnan).
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) The first feature film to use a green screen instead of a blue screen for its visual effects, allowing for filming against a rich blue night sky. The film also featured minor morphing effects with the knocker transforming into Marley's head.